“I told you he was checking—”
“I know what you said, but you’re the worst liar on the planet. I thought you were gonna break into song the way your voice went all over the place. And when we first got here and I called out to you, your response was I need to finish getting dressed. What was that about?”
“Yeah, what the hell was that about?”
Both Grace and Rose flinched at the sound of Vincent’s voice. Rose dropped the bottle of medicine, and she bumped her head against Grace’s belly trying to reach down for it. Grace moved out of the way, and Rose bent down at a loss for how to explain this. They both made their way out of the restroom, and to her surprise Vincent didn’t seem mad. He seemed nervous—almost scared.
“What’s going on Rose? Something happen between you and Enzo while I was gone?”
“What? No!”
Now he seemed angry. His brow lifted sharply. “Is that your bra in his car?”
She thought quick and remembered a few things were missing from her soccer bag. One of them was her white bra. “Yeah, I think.”
“It is?” Grace asked seemingly stunned by this.
“Well, yeah.” Rose looked back at Grace.
“Is that right?” Vince was louder now. “And he was in your bedroom today, door closed?” He pointed at Grace, “And you told her you had to get dressed, but nothing is going on?”
“Just tell them, Rose.” They all turned to Lorenzo who stood at the end of the hallway.
“You,” Vince pointed at Lorenzo his jaw going tight, “stay over there. You do not wanna be anywhere near me right now.” He turned back to Rose again. “So go ahead. Just tell me.”
Exhaling she dropped her head back. “This is not the time or place for this.”
“Damn it Rose, if you think I’m gonna wait—”
“Okay, okay,” she still couldn’t believe she was really standing here talking to Vincent. “It’s not what you’re thinking. I know it looks bad,” she turned to Grace, “but you’ll probably be more upset about the real truth.”
“What is it?” Grace asked already looking concerned.
“Lorenzo’s been giving me injections.”
“What?” Both Vince and Grace asked at the same time.
Vince turned and looked at his brother in disbelief.
“Can we go into your bedroom, please?” She asked Grace. “I don’t want anyone else overhearing.”
Grace started to her room, and Rose reached out for Vincent’s hand, turning back to Lorenzo. “You too, Lorenzo.” Then she turned to Vincent. “It’s not at all what you’re thinking, so you can stop threatening your brother.”
“Your bra is in the backseat of his car.” Vincent reminded her flatly.
She couldn’t help giggle at the absurdity of it all. “I can explain that, too.”
Her giggling seemed to ease Vincent a little, very little, though he did take her hand firmly in his.
Once in Grace’s bedroom she explained it all. Grace wanted details, such as her exact red-blood-cell count, which Rose hadn’t even thought to ask about. She wanted to know Rose’s next appointment date, and Grace was adamant that unless she was in the hospital giving birth, she’d be there with her. Vincent said he would be, too. She told them everything. The only thing she left out was who had originally been giving her the injections. But that was a conversation she’d save for another day: a conversation she planned on having with Vincent alone.
After Grace’s interrogation, a still stunned-looking Vincent adjusted her hand in his. His eyes spoke volumes. She’d seen him nervous before, but this was more than nervous. He’d been staring at her silently the entire time she explained everything. Now he blinked, still staring, but he seemed almost afraid to speak. “How…” He stopped to swallow then take a breath. “How bad is this, Rosie?”
“It’s not.” She squeezed his hand attempting to assure him.
“But you need injections. My grandpa…” He looked away as if to shake the thought away.
He’d shared with her about his grandpa’s death after losing his battle with diabetes. She hated for him to be thinking this was that bad.
“It’s just a vitamin deficiency, Vincent. The doctor said because of my age and because I’m so healthy otherwise, this can easily be controlled. The very minor symptoms have completely gone away already.”
That seemed to calm him a bit, but not a whole lot, so she wrapped her arms around his waist. “I feel fine. I really do.” She turned to Grace. “I promise you both. I’ll be fine, okay?”
Sal stuck his head in the door. “There you are. Everyone’s looking for you, Vince. What’s going on? Why are you all in here?”
“I’ll explain later,” Grace said. “But we’re done,” she turned to Rose, “for now.”
Lorenzo walked out after Grace and Sal. Rose and Vincent began walking out until he pulled her to him then pinned her to the wall. “So why was your bra in Enzo’s car?”
She could see he was serious, but the smirk told her he knew there was a legit explanation. Happy to see his worry had been put aside, though she knew it was only for now, she smiled playfully “Well you see, the last time me and him…”
Vincent eyes opened wide, and he pushed his body against her even harder making her laugh. “He gave me a ride to my game today, silly. I was late, so I had to change in his backseat. You’ve seen me change in and out of my uniforms, so you know he didn’t see a thing. But I ran out of the car so fast a few things must’ve fallen out of my bag.”
He stared in her eyes for a moment, turning her insides into liquid like he always had then kissed her deeply, stopping only to look in her eyes again. “I want my bra back.” She smirked. “It’s one of my lucky ones.”
“You’re not getting it back.”
“Why not?”
“Because after having to deal with seeing my girlfriend’s bra in the backseat of another guy’s car—my brother’s car—I deserve some kind of compensation.”
Rose laughed. “So you’re gonna hold my bra hostage?”
“Yes.”
She tsked, unbuttoning the top button of his army fatigues. Something about seeing him in them was such a turn on. “Pity, there are so many better ways I can think of to compensate you.”
He groaned, leaning in and kissing her like she’d missed for too long. She didn’t even care that they were standing in Grace and Sal’s bedroom doorway. She kissed him back with the same unabashed hunger as he kissed her.
“Vicente!”
Vincent pulled away instantly. His mother stood at the doorway of the guest bathroom, glaring at them. Okay, now Rose cared. She felt her face heat instantly. His mother pursed her lips and shook her head pointing to the other end of the hallway then walked into the bathroom without saying another word and closed the door behind her.
Vincent turned back to Rose then laughed. “Man, I’ve never seen you so red. C’mon,” he pulled her hand down the hall. “This is nothing. Just wait till she finds out it’s your bra in the backseat of Enzo’s car. She’s the one that found it.”
Rose covered her face with her hand, groaning. “No!”
“Yes!” Vincent laughed.
The rest of the evening, as expected, Vincent was pulled from one person to the next. Everyone wanted to hear his story. Rose had heard it several times, and already she knew no matter how many times he told it, no matter how many times they all heard it, no one would really get the magnitude of what Vincent had gone through. It’d be with him forever, and she hated that. She hated that these images and terrifying memories would most likely haunt him forever.
“I really thought that was it.” Vince said deep in thought. “They were coming in and with a purpose. Neither one of us understood what they were saying, but the way they were tearing down that bunker to get to whoever was down there, there was never any doubt they were going to kill us. Of course, I wasn’t gonna go down without a fight, but I could barely move. The pain was so bad already, and I wa
s unarmed. I’d already begun to thank God for all the blessings he’d given me up until then.” He turned to Rose and squeezed her hand. “Thanked him for the people in my life I’d been so lucky to have spent some time with.”
Rose smiled at him, feeling choked up all over again, and he turned back to his cousins and some of the others that were listening intently. “That’s when the gunfire erupted. Me and the Sarg took cover with what we could and listened to the chaos above us. When it was all over like a miracle we heard our names being called out.” Vincent laughed just like he had the first time she’d heard him tell it. “They weren’t just there on accident; they’d been sent there to look for us, and they’d arrived just in the nick of time. It was nothing short of a miracle.”
He went on to tell them about how he and the sergeant had gone nuts yelling out that they were down in the bunker and how the soldiers dug them out. Then they were flown by helicopter again to the nearest base where medics were already waiting for them.
As absorbing as his rescue story was, Romero seemed more interested in his tactical arms training. He went back to the beginning of Vince’s story. “So, no shit, they were gonna send you back here to train, and your ass chose to go to Iraq instead?”
Vincent glanced at Rose for a moment then turned back to Romero. “It’s complicated but something like that.”
After hours of having felt nothing but pure bliss, Rose felt the guilt sink in fast. He’d chosen Iraq over coming back home because of her. She spent the rest of the evening trying to keep up the fake smiles, but she couldn’t help feeling terrible that because of her Vincent had gone through all that he had.
Once everyone was gone, they sat on the sofa in the family room alone.
“So what happened?”
Rose tilted her head not understanding Vincent’s question. “When?”
“Tonight. You seemed happy enough the first part of evening then something happened and that changed. You just tired? Too much excitement for one day?”
She shrugged, playing with his dog tags, feeling herself getting choked up again. “I just hate that it was entirely my fault you had to go through everything you went through.”
Vince sat up, pulling away swiftly, so as to get a better view of her face. “Your fault? How was it your fault?”
“If I hadn’t been so stubborn and believed in you more, I would’ve read your letters and known sooner why you left. I never would’ve had to fake having a boyfriend, and you never would’ve thought I moved on.” She looked in his eyes now. “That’s why you went to Iraq, right?”
Vincent caressed her face, and she leaned into his hand. “Baby, my having to enlist in the first place was all my fault. I mean Enzo is the one that was doing the dealing, but I didn’t have to cover for him. I chose to. And he had nothing to do with me kicking that asshole’s ass next door. No one did but me. I had a choice there, too, and I made mine, so it cost me.”
“But you could’ve come back here to train instead of going to Iraq.”
“My choice again. It’s not your fault I made a stupid choice, but you know what? You’re the reason I’m even here. You’re what kept me going. Do you really think it’s a coincidence my entire squad didn’t make it out of there but I did?” He traced her lips with his finger. “You were there with me, Rose, and I fought hard even in pain for you, to get back to you. You’ve always been my incentive.”
She smiled, remembering how often she’d questioned why he would go back to dealing when he’d always claimed he wanted to better himself for her. Then she remembered something.
“Vincent, I was gonna wait for another time, but I want this behind us already. I want us to start all over starting now with nothing hanging over our heads…or my head, I should say, that I’d be dreading to do or talk to you about.”
He pulled away searching her eyes. “You don’t have to dread talking to me about anything, Rose.”
“It’s about Ben.”
His expression changed instantly. “Ben? What about Ben?”
She pressed her lips together not sure where to start. Vincent showed up so suddenly she never even got a chance to think through how she’d explain this. He started to pull away from her, but she reached for his hand. “Don’t.”
He stopped and stared at her. “What about him? Just say it; you’re making me nervous.”
“Don’t be. It’s nothing like that. We just started talking again after you left, and we hung out a few times, but it’s never been more than a friendship with him. Then when I had to lie about having a boyfriend so Grace could stop worrying…well you know how this family is. Every gathering I showed up without my so-called boyfriend; they wanted to know where he was.”
Caressing his hand, she hoped he wasn’t getting angry. She couldn’t make out what he was thinking, but he said nothing.
“I uh…I asked him if he’d show up at one of the parties and pretend to be my boyfriend.”
“What?” He started to pull away again, but she didn’t let him squeezing his hand. “It was just the one time, and I felt so awful when Lorenzo called me on it, that I never did it again.”
“Lorenzo called you on it? What did he say?”
She shrugged. “He asked how long I’d waited after you left then threatened to beat him up, right here in Sal’s house.”
Even as appalling as she made that sound, Vincent still laughed. “That would’ve been hilarious.”
“Well he didn’t, but you wanna know what else your brother did?”
“Absolutely,” he said looking far too amused.
Even though this was not meant to be funny, she was glad his mood had switched.
“When he found out Ben was the one giving me the injections, he practically blackmailed me to make him stop.”
“Ben was giving you the injections?” Vincent’s eyebrows lifted. “And while you’re at it, where exactly on your body are these injections?”
Rose gulped; his cheery demeanor was waning. “Ben is a pre-med student, so he’s trained.”
“Pre-med my ass. You don’t need to go to med school to give an injection.”
“Oh my God, that’s exactly what Lorenzo said.”
“Yeah, no shit. But you fell for it?”
Rose dropped his hand, but he took her hand right back in his. “No I didn’t fall for it, Vincent. I asked him if he would, and he was nice enough to take the time to come do it twice a week.”
“Oh, I bet he was. And where was he giving you these shots, Rose, on your ass?”
He squeezed her hand when she tried to let go again. “On my thigh,” she said almost through her teeth.
Vincent stared at her for a moment without saying anything then he smirked. “So how did Enzo blackmail you?”
She sat up for this. “After he told me the whole truth about why you really left, how it was him dealing, not you, but you took the fall for him, I admitted that I’d made the whole thing up about being with Ben. I told him I was still in love with you and that I’d write you to tell you and that I’d end the fake relationship I had with Ben. Then a few days later Ben showed up at the restaurant for my injection. Your brother followed me out of the restaurant demanding to know why he was there to see me again.”
“Good man. Good man.” Vincent nodded smiling. “Go on.”
She had to smile now. “So because he wouldn’t back down, I had to tell him about the injections. Then he said the same thing you did.” She did her best to imitate both of their caustic tones. “Pre-med my ass.”
Vincent laughed at that then kissed her. “All right, so what happened next?”
“He threatened to tell you about it if I didn’t stop and just let him give me the injections.” She stared at him for a moment, suddenly feeling emotional again. “I didn’t want you thinking I’d actually moved on and with all guys, Ben. So I had no choice but to tell Ben I didn’t need him to do it anymore.”
Vincent leaned his forehead against hers, smiling.” Where’s my phone?”
“What?” she pulled back to look at him.
“I gotta call my brother to tell him I love him.”
Rose fell into him. “You and your brother. Holy hell, I thought I only had you to deal with!”
“Well, now you know.” Vince smiled, kissing her as he moved her body onto his on the sofa. “But Ben’s gone, babe. You gotta know that, right?” She made herself more comfortable lying on top of him. “I can’t deal with his ass. I’m just letting you know that right now. He might be a nice guy, and he’s your friend and all, but I can’t stand the way he looks at you. Lorenzo saw it too. As long as you’re cool with not being around this guy when I’m not there, we can work something out.”
“He might be at some of my games. He said he wanted to watch the finals.”
“That’s cool,” Vincent said, kissing her a little deeper than he had all night, “because I’ll be at all of those games, too.
His hand slipped into her shorts making her squirm. “Remember where we’re at,” she reminded him, feeling her body tingle as his fingers made their way to that perfect place.
“I do,” he said moving those magic fingers like only he knew how. “We’re fully dressed in case anyone walks in, but Sal and Grace looked tired as shit. I have plans for us tomorrow when I’ll get mine, but tonight I wanna feel you get yours.” His fingers moved perfectly, making her spread her legs to accommodate him going in deeper. She buried her face in his chest, trying to stifle a moan. “This is mine?” he asked tickling that perfect spot.
“Yes!” She lifted herself, spreading even wider for him.
Taking advantage of her spread, he slipped two more fingers in. “All mine?”
She licked his neck then sucked it, making him straighten out real quick. “All yours, baby.”
Over a year was long enough; she pushed his pants down just low enough and pulled him out. He was up and erect and as beautiful as she remembered. Without taking anything off, she pulled her shorts aside and slid right onto him.
She covered his mouth and had to stifle her own moans. “Shh!”
“Nobody’s waiting until tomorrow,” she whispered.
She began riding him up and down, letting her foot hit the floor, so he was all the way in. Then she lifted her foot off the floor, feeling him go even deeper. Sliding up and down him again and again she began to feel his body stiffen and she knew he was getting close. Then she stopped for a moment and just sat there, her eyes rolling back as she felt him in her as deep as he could possibly go. “Vincent, baby, I missed you so much” she whispered breathlessly.